December 15, 2012

Stanley Kubrick on the Connecticut massacre

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LBJ probably killed almost a million Vietnamese kids: Clinton killed about 1/2 a million Iraq kids with his sanctions; Obama routinely slaughters kids with drones and then has the psycopathy to shed tears over the CT. rampage — yet millions of leftists are still proud to vote for Democrats.

I live in Fairfield County and the first comments by people were how could happen in our neighborhood. How arrogant I guess killings should only happen to the poor people in Bridgeport. Wake up and smell the coffee you pompous bourgeoisie! You support Republicans who love guns so the right to bear arms just bit you in the ass.

Sorry I posted twice before but having problems with PC. It just angers me the arrogance and ignorance of these people who think that guns are problems in inner cities like Bridgeport. If these clueless bourgeoisie types stopped supporting the ass kissing NRA lovers called the Republican Party, only then could they legitimately complain.

I’ve never seen this movie. Is that scene meant in jest? As a not so subtle indictment of the military? Because it seems a bit self aware doesn’t it? And the idea of hearing a member of the armed forces say that shit without horror is itself horrifying.

Pandora: You need to see this movie ASAP for Kubrick illustrates like virtually nobody else very keen insights into the Pentagon’s psyche.

Deborah: FYI, historically the only thing socialist revolutionaries and right wing rebublican NRA types agree on is the issue of gun control for Revolutionists never advocate a society where only the cops & soldiers are armed.

What direction did Kubrick’s politics lean to? For that matter where is the working class to get its hands on enough guns to arm itself to a great extent? Sometimes I have nightmare thoughts about my people kicking out the yanki capitalists and the American government telling the occupying force here to begin mowing us down.

Karl, I agree with you that it shouldn’t just be law enforcement that has access to guns. What got me angry is once again how the affluent act surprised as though only the poor trashy people of Bridgeport are expected to get shot. The bourgeoisie of Fairfield County CT need to wake up and realize that they are no more special than anyone else.

The commentary from residents of Newtown about how something like this never happens in their community is typical upper class Connecticut arrogance. It happened after the Madonna Badger fire last Xmas in my city of Stamford. They seem to believe that bad things happen to poor people. At least I can say this story will eclipse the coverage of the anniversary of the Badger fire, a story that has been exploited too much by the media. For ratings naturally the press exploited Sandy victims and now the shooting tragedy. Enough already, let these poor people RIP!

That’s because bad shit mostly happens to poor people thanks to the structure of class society. How many times has the show “Cops” shown law enforcement dragging out white guys in ties from a big bank or stock brokerage firm?

Here’s the latest example of the grotesqueness of America’s 2 tiered justice system:

Oh god Karl boy do you have it right! In Bridgeport kids are shot and killed every day but when a group of children in an affluent community are shot WHOA that’s a tragedy. And don’t let me get started about Madonna Badger the socialite who left her children to burn to death. My comnunity thinks she’s a hero. I think she’s a rich woman who beat a manslaughter rap.

Ah the structure of class society, the justice of roosting chickens, the exploitation of the homeless and less fortunate. Let’s remember the children of Bridgeport and other inner cities who are victims of gun violence EVERY SINGLE DAY. STOP THE RIDE, I WANNA GET OFF!!

I came to your blog by way of the most excellent publication Counterpunch, and your article this weekend on Oliver Stone. Excellent piece, by the way. I just wanted to comment on your CT comments – it is relieving to read articulate viewpoints of substance, as opposed to the typical and narrow window of ‘mainstream’ debate. I don’t really have anything to add, if only b/c I don’t have anything worth saying, and too many people talk while saying nothing.

All that rambling to say, it’s nice to see substantive discussion still exists. Cheers.

Jessica your comment is very encouraging. The coverage from the mainstream media whether it’s about the school shooting, Hurricane Sandy or the Badger fire is sugar coated with a one sided agenda that they promote to win Emmy awards. If this shooting happened in an inner city school, they would’ve devoted five minutes coverage tops and then move on to the next story in their quest for exploitative journalism.

I suggest they’d be very similar to that of George Carlin’s, except way deeper.

They both embrace the theme of America’s foreign policy being a logical extension of domestic policy (since after all the same people make both) and I’d argue they’d both embrace the idea of the inextricable interconnectedness of rampage shooting violence directed at American schoolchildren & office workers,

Just consider this George Carlin piece from 20 years ago that was performed as if it were yesterday. Surely Kubrick would have enjoyed it:

I have loved Carlin for years. I wish he would come back and posses Bill Maher so he’d stop inviting softheaded middle class people to the panel. Reminds me of some black guy he invited to the panel who said he was so glad for his little girl because she’d grow up in a country where the president was her same skin color.

Though I wonder how prevalent is the attitude in America that WWII is a glorious war–democracy versus fascism?

My local news reported that a collection was taken up for victim’s families for misc expenditures. This is a VERY affluent area so I think that asking for a community handout is outrageous when they clearly can afford the costs that go with an unexpected event. The elderly and disabled in Fairfield County have to wait for years to get benefits and services they’re entitled to. A tragedy, yes. An excuse to make a buck, typical and expected. Only in the country club of Connecticut. Has anybody ever heard of life insurance? No too busy buying yachts and fur coats I guess that’s where their priorities are.

I’m not discounting the tragedy but come on tragedies happen every day like thousands being killed in Syria and worldwide genocide. The sense of entitlement from the weakthiest of Connecticut citizens reminds me of the 9/11 widows demanding millions for their loss. A tragedy should not be a financial windfall for survivors ESPECIALLY when they’re rich and should pay for their own misc expenditures.

It is easy to criticize people from Newtown for their racial and class biases, which get expressed unfiltered after this sort of tragedy. But, as with Hurricane Sandy, there is an importance which may go unrecognized if we limit ourselves to pointing it out. As with Sandy, there is no sanctuary from the consequences of climate change, even if the poor will suffer the most. Similarly, there is likewise no sanctuary from the deeply ingrained violence in our culture, no matter how privileged we are, even if, again, the poor suffer disproportionately.

Within two days after the killings in Newtown, I saw a story about someone in Oklahoma who was found to be in possession of a large amount of firearms and ammunition with a purported plan to shoot people at a school. Meanwhile, in Orange County, there was another story about a man who was found with a lot of weaponry who purportedly planned to shoot people at a shopping mall. For us on the left, the challenge is to find a way to engage people on this subject so as to avoid the reflexive law enforcement solution, which is, as we are discovering, no solution at all.

I understand your point Richard. My criticism simply highlights the reality that no one wants to hear that if this happened in an inner city school like Bridgeport or New Haven, it wouldn’t have received so much coverage. My local news station habitually exploits the homeless and crime victims to score points in the journalism community. I also don’t believe that the general public should be supporting wealthy crime victims financially. There are no easy answers when it comes to the gun issue in this country. I’m just a leftist who looks out for the disabled who are treated terribly in Connecticut this I know because I am one of them.

Deborah how does your local news station habitually exploit the homeless and crime victims?

I don’t follow the news on tv anymore. I’m left curious: am I to understand that when a tragedy like this occurs in an affluent neighborhood the coverage is sympathetic and focuses on the misery of those affected but when the same tragedy occurs in a poor neighborhood the coverage is antagonistic and focuses on the perpetrators of the crime? And that regardless of what neighborhood the crime occurred in if the criminals are dark skinned they are exploited to stir up racial fear?

Pandora, I’ll give you two examples of how my local news exploits. Whenever there is a clothing or toy drive or hot meals for the less fortunate, they gotta stick their cameras in the clients faces who clearly look like they don’t want to be filmed and then they repeat the segment over and over. They also released gruesome pictures of the remains of Madonna Badger’s charred home thus exploiting the deaths of the five people who couldn’t escape the fire trap. The coverage of this shooting is not a public service by a reputable news agency, it is done for their own advancement by exploiting 28 murdered people. To me that is the epitome of tabloid trash and I have zero respect for them.

Watching the news this morning, the commentators said that violent video games are to blame and should be banned. Can we please have a dose of some SANITY here comrades. The blame is exclusively reserved for the psycho who did the deed. Why is it that whenever a tragedy occurs, the clueless media throws the blame in a direction that is way off the mark? Perhaps they’re intellectually deficient or trying to push an agenda. My observation is it’s a little bit of both.

Governor Malloy is one piece of work. Firstly, he tells the parents of the deceased shooting victims that their children had “expired” (what a sensitive guy huh), then it’s announced today that there will be deep cuts to programs that serve the mentally ill which were already bad to begin with all while just days ago a very disturbed person kills 28 people. Does this man (Governor Malloy) live in the same world we do? WTF!!